I was following a conversation on Twitter between Lesley Chang and Matt Freedman the other day concerning the respective logos of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. As you may recall, we had a brief discussion concerning the Pepsi branding late last year and the rumors of a new logo really did come to fruition.

With Coca-Cola, the core logo for the company has not changed in over 100 years. According to Lesley Chang, this speaks to the lasting appeal and the brand power of the cola company, showing that they can be timeless. It doesn’t matter if you see the Coke logo from the 1950s or the Coke logo on today’s vending machines, because it is exactly the same and the recipe has remained largely unchanged as well. Coca-Cola is capturing the more traditional end of the market, showing us that their familiar product is just as good as it has always been.

With Pepsi, the core logo for the company has gone through several changes over the same time period. Every ten or twenty years (sometimes even more frequently), it seems that Pepsi is trying to reinvent itself and better approach the market of the day. According to Matt Freedman, this shows that Pepsi is willing to change with the times and cater to the needs that we have today. This is modern, contemporary, and progressive.

Which approach is ultimately more successful? One of the biggest factors that you may want to consider when it comes to updating your company’s brand (or keeping it the same) is the market that you are trying to approach. Companies that are meant to be on the bleeding edge of innovation should probably consider changing with the times. Look at what Steve Jobs and the rest of the team in Cupertino have managed to do with Apple. This is a far cry from the multi-colored Apple logo that we saw 20 years ago.

Companies that are meant to exude tradition, familiarity, and trust are probably better off reinforcing existing brand images. It wouldn’t be in the best interest of Buckley’s Cough Syrup, for example, to say that they have new flavors and are “hip” to the current trends. We know Buckley’s as the brand that tastes awful (but works). The same can be said about a brand like Werther’s candy.

Traditional or modern? What strategy do you take with your company’s branding?

Whether you operate primarily as an online business or you have a brick and mortar location, you should be mindful of the methods of payment you accept at your company. Each of these payment methods have their inherent pros and cons, so you must weigh each carefully to see if you would like to offer them to your customers and clients.

Working as a freelance writer with the majority of my business coming through the Internet, I largely work toward electronic (and instant) forms of payment. PayPal is perhaps one of the most convenient options, because anyone can use it and it allows me to accept credit card payments without having to set up an account to do so through a bank. However, the fees associated with PayPal can add up quite quickly. You are paying the price for convenience and the time that you’d save as a result.

A good alternative in Canada is the Email Money Transfer and this works with major banks like CIBC and Scotiabank. Like PayPal, EMTs are (almost) instant and you can guarantee that the funds are available and deposited to your account. The sender also has to affiliate with one of the supported banks and they are on the hook for the small ($1.25) fee involved. One of the biggest shortcomings is that each transfer is limited to $1,000.

For a brick and mortar location, the decision is quite similar. There are banking fees involved with accepting credit and debit cards, but these add greatly to customer convenience. There is also the safety concern, because businesses that are cash-only are more likely to be victims of robbery, especially if they are open late at night. For larger transactions, cheques are a viable option but they do not guarantee payment. There is no way of knowing whether a cheque will “bounce” and they also require a trip to the bank in order to deposit them. Such is not the case with electronic payment.

Accepting cash and cheques will result in minimal fees, but they also run a slightly higher risk and they will involve more time since they require a trip to the bank. Electronic payments will result in greater fees, but they also offer greater security and generally less time consumed. The choice is yours.

While driving yesterday, my brother pointed out a new Acura TL and asked me what I thought of it. I said that while I don’t really like the styling of the newest model, I do appreciate what Acura is doing by trying to differentiate the higher-end luxury sedan from its less expensive TSX stablemate. This conversation led to what the Acura brand is trying to represent and how it differs from some of its competitors in the marketplace.

My brother mentioned that most sedans in the Mercedes-Benz lineup look very similar and I said that’s because Mercedes has already firmly established what its brand represents. Even though they have less expensive offerings today, the Mercedes brand is still one of prestige and luxury. That distinctive three-pronged emblem immediately tells you that this is a luxurious vehicle. While not quite there just yet, I feel that the Lexus marque has also achieved a similar level of prestige. You see that “L” logo and you know you have a premium vehicle.

With Acura, the branding isn’t quite so clear. For a while, Acura (which is owned by Honda) was trying to brand itself as a performance-minded premium brand. It was from there that we saw vehicles like the NSX supercar and the Integra sports coupe. These were certainly higher up than their Honda counterparts, but they didn’t immediately speak to being a prestigious premium brand. All the while, Acura was also being marketed as a premium brand through its luxury sedans. The branding got confused.

So today, what we see with Acura is a brand that is at once trying to offer reasonably priced performance and a sense of being upper-class. To give the public a clearer image of what it is trying to achieve, it may have been better to focus on one aspect or the other, like how Lexus did. Lexus certainly has some performance-oriented vehicles, like the IS-F, but the first priority has always been to develop itself into a premium brand and I think it has achieved this.

In working on your company’s brand, you should spend some time to narrow that focus and know exactly how you want your customers and potential customers to view you. What are you selling? What does your brand represent?

When you first start out with your business, you may be approaching a very specific niche or approaching a very specific demographic. For example, if you run a small organic produce market, there is a good chance that you will largely attract only people who are already interested in organic produce and are willing to the pay the price premium that goes along with that type of product. Word may spread among people who lead that kind of lifestyle.

If your business continues to grow, it will become necessary to expand beyond this smaller niche and demographic if you want to gain any more customers. Going back to the small organic produce market, you may start to consider supplying fruits and vegetables to local restaurants and eateries. This is not a market that you would have approached when you were only selling at the regular consumer level. You still have the same products; you’re just selling them to another set of customers as well.

The same can be said about many of the people who largely market their products and services online. The people who are in that niche and have that set of interests may be able to find your company online, but at some point, you may consider expanding into a more traditional market as well, directing that traffic back toward your online business. Say, for example, that you sell arts and crafts via an Etsy or eBay store.

When you start out, most of your marketing efforts will likely be geared toward online shoppers already. Eventually, you may look into more traditional retail channels, possibly supplying a local store, taking out an ad in the local newspaper, or other related possibilities.

To expand your reach, you must also expand your perspective. Take off those blinders and see how far your business can grow.

Two of the most important things that you can offer your customers are convenience and ease of use. They want to be able to receive your product or service in a timely fashion and they want the process to be as painless as possible. One of the ways you can do this is to offer some sort of self-service utility on your website.

Let’s face it. Most of us live, breathe, eat and sleep on the Internet, so for many customers, it can be much more useful to place an order or adjust account details online rather than over the phone with a customer service representative. While there are certainly initial costs in setting up your online utility, these are quickly recouped through the savings you’ll gain through the reduced need for phone- and mail-based customer service.

Many different industries and types of businesses can benefit from the practice of online self-serve. Courier companies, for instance, can allow customers to book pickups and dropoffs via an online tool. Similarly, some pizza places let you order your dinner online, possibly even pre-paying via credit card so you don’t have to pay the delivery person when they arrive.

If you are looking for a way to improve your customer service experience, one of the better (albeit somewhat ironic) ways to do this is to offer an online alternative to your standard phone-based interaction. Just make sure your online tool is intuitive and easy to use.

Following up on Gary’s Free McDonald’s Coffee video, I thought I’d chime in with my perspective on the matter. As you may recall, McDonald’s had a promotion where they were giving away free coffee, hoping to entice over some customers who may have otherwise purchased their daily brew through Starbucks or Tim Hortons.

For the duration of the promotion, it seemed like McDonald’s was doing quite well. Breakfast sales went up, easily recouping the added costs of giving away free coffee. However, now that we find ourselves several weeks out of the promotion, it seems that business has returned to normal and the lineups are just as long as ever at Tim Hortons. Did the promotion fail or is there something more here to be explored?

As far as I can gather, I think it comes down to two very important factors: preference and habit. As noted on my own blog, Tim Hortons coffee is much “lighter” than the darker Arabica roast offered by McDonald’s. I personally prefer the latter, but many others prefer the former. The price of “free” may trump preference temporarily, but it’s unlikely that people will continue to drink something when they know that they like the coffee elsewhere better.

A second related factor is habit. This goes hand in hand with preference. That’s because people who have been going through the Tim Hortons drive-thru for years, drinking that same coffee each and every morning, will have a hard time switching brands and switching drinks. This is similar to the backlash that resulted from “New Coke” when Coca-Cola decided to change its formula. Fans of “Classic Coke” revolted, not because “New Coke” was bad, per se, but rather because it was not the Coke they knew and loved.

In trying to attract customers away from your competitors and into your fold, one of the first things you’ll need to do is to shift their preference, not only breaking that old habit but also forming a new habit that leads to a preference toward your brand and product.